Night of Despair

"No, it's over." Xiao Jieba sighed with relief, removed the hood of his raincoat, and then looked to the other side.

The other person also took off his hood, revealing the tired face of Dr. Xu.

"This journey alone, the number of shadows we encountered was more than before, and the consumption of luminous stones was too great. Also, the monster last night… According to the official broadcast assessment, it shouldn't have appeared nearby…"

This time, Xiao Jieba went to her to borrow food; she simply let him accompany her out as a form of payment in exchange for some dried meat and mushrooms.

She thought she was being kind-hearted, but along the way, if it hadn't been for Xiao Jieba's timely help, pulling her back at critical moments, she might have been...

Thinking of this, Dr. Xu felt a wave of fear.

"I don't know…"

Bang!

Suddenly, a loud noise.

The wooden door of the house was fiercely slammed into by something.

The loud noise shook the door panel, causing the surrounding wall paint to fall off in pieces.

The door frame trembled violently, obviously loosened.

"What is it!?" Dr. Xu panicked. "It's that monster! It has followed us here!! Why!!"

It was the same creature they encountered in their temporary residence the night before.

"Hold on!" Xiao Jieba dashed forward, bracing the door with his shoulder.

Bang!

But the subsequent loud bang sent her tumbling backward.

The monster outside was too powerful; she couldn't stop it.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The wooden door was being continuously hit, and the nails fixing the frame were gradually shaking loose, moving outward.

Dr. Xu, panicked, watched this scene, her body stiffening and losing the ability to react.

"It's... it's that thing… it actually…"

Her son had died in such a scenario.

Back then, she and her family realized immediately and rushed to hold the door, but the huge impact from outside was overwhelming.

In less than half a minute, the door was shattered, and her son, to distract the monster, had dashed out amid the chaos and ran far.

She was quickly pulled away by her husband, fleeing their home. Just before leaving, she only saw the shadow of the monster biting her son in the distance.

Boom!!!

Just then, the wooden door instantly broke apart, and the fragments struck Dr. Xu, who was frozen in place.

She was about to be hit right on the forehead.

Suddenly, Xiao Jieba grabbed her and rolled to the side.

Whoosh!

After the door shattered, a huge, dark monster rushed in due to inertia.

Seizing the moment it wasn't stable and continued to charge forward due to inertia,

Xiao Jieba picked up Dr. Xu and ran.

She dashed out of the door, sprinting at full speed along the gravel path.

"Where… are we going…" Dr. Xu regained her senses and asked with a trembling voice.

Xiao Jieba's mind quickly flashed with various places.

The reinforced door of her house couldn't stop the monster; other houses wouldn't last long either.

What to do?

What to do?

What to do!?

Sweat streamed down her temples, mingling with her rapid breaths.

Running out of the village, Xiao Jieba unconsciously ran to the forest where she and Yu Hong had been working during the day.

Realizing this was a mistake, she quickly turned toward another direction, not wanting Yu Hong to be found as well.

Though she was physically strong, carrying someone while running in the rain was exhausting her.

What to do??

As she continuously pondered solutions, none seemed viable in this situation; without the shelter of a house and the barrier of luminous stones, let alone the monster, even the constantly appearing shadows were beyond their defense.

"Yiyi… put me down, I'd rather die, I can't drag you down!" Dr. Xu intermittently spoke on her shoulder.

Xiao Jieba ran silently, heading towards the distant area without speaking.

BANG!!!

Suddenly, she turned left in a sprint.

Next to her, a large tree was heavily struck by the black monster chasing them and made a muffled sound.

The tree shook, the trunk dented deeply, almost ready to topple.

*

*

*

Yu Hong put away the radio and took out the batteries, covering them with dry leaves.

This was going to be key for receiving information from the outside world in the future.

So it was essential to preserve it well.

After finishing these tasks, he glanced at the luminous stone, the enhanced pyroxene, the surface still showing countdown numbers, though not very conspicuous unless looked at closely.

Huff.

He exhaled, noticing his breath turning into a faint white mist.

"Is the temperature that low?"

Standing up, he walked to the stove, intending to light a fire for warmth. With a smoke pipe connected to the ventilation hole on the door, lighting a fire was now secure.

However, looking at the firewood in the stove, Yu Hong knew that even if lit, it wouldn't last long.

"Sigh… I wonder when Xiao Jieba will come back… It would be great if we could find coal or something…"

The protection here in the cave was much stronger than in Xiao Jieba's house.

The doors and windows there were only half as thick as those here, and the material was softer, using wood from old houses for many years.

Now, the only things missing were heating and food.

Once solved, this place would be a qualified refuge safe house.

BANG!!

Suddenly, Yu Hong thought he heard a faint banging sound in the distance.

"What's that sound?" He frowned. In this rainy weather, any sound outside was sure to be from a monster or a shadow.

Standing up, he wanted to check outside.

But as he stood, he worried about being noticed by the shadows. The sudden appearance of a pale face at the window was quite frightening.

Even with the protection of enhanced pyroxene, being scared into debilitation was quite normal.

Considering this, Yu Hong sat back down.

BANG!

Suddenly, another noise erupted.

Yu Hong's complexion changed drastically, and he abruptly stood up, rushed to the peephole, and slid open the cover to look outside.

As he did, he saw the sight of Xiao Jieba and Dr. Xu being chased by a pitch-black monster.

"Crap!"

The sight of the monster sent chills down Yu Hong's spine.

In the heavy rain, tens of meters away in the woods, a large tick-like monster, over two meters tall and four meters long, was covered in darkness,

endlessly chasing Xiao Jieba and the other.

Silence.

Pause.

Yu Hong stood at the door.

Bang!

He violently flung the door open.

"Over here! Quick, come this way!!!" he yelled in the direction of Xiao Jieba.

His entire body was tense, trembling, his blood circulating rapidly and his complexion turning crimson.

Intense fear and anxiety urged him to quickly close the door, lest the monster discover him.

But Xiao Jieba had saved him before, had helped him too much.

Even in fear, Yu Hong had his own principles and standards of conduct!

Gripping the steel-nail luminous stone rod beside the door, he tried hard to control himself, not letting fear take over and shut the door.

Not letting fear force him to hide.

"Over here!! Yiyi!!"

Yu Hong stepped out into the rain and bellowed.

"Run this way!!!" he roared.

He knew that fleeing outside in such increasingly dark conditions would certainly mean death if the shadow appeared.

Better to take a chance with him behind this reinforced wooden door, hoping it could withstand the monster's attack.

If they could just hold off for a while–it was daytime now, and after the clouds dispersed, the monster would soon fade away...

Far away, Xiao Jieba and the other heard the sound and turned their heads. Not just them, but the black tick-like monster also heard the noise and glanced their way.

Taking advantage of this pause, Xiao Jieba gritted her teeth and turned to run another direction.

"Trust me! Yiyi!" Yu Hong's voice came again.

Xiao Jieba paused, turning her head toward Yu Hong.

From afar, she saw the fierce determination on his face.

"Come!!" Yu Hong shouted, reaching out to her.

Whoosh!

The black monster charged again, the air currents it brought up causing Xiao Jieba's hair to flutter wildly,

unabated even by the rain.

Immediately, Dr. Xu was the first to react, grabbing Xiao Jieba and rushing towards Yu Hong.

Her movement provoked the monster.

The black monster also followed behind them, charging toward Yu Hong at the entrance of the cave.

It was a massive black tick-like creature, resembling a beastly black war machine with eight legs, thunderously charging into the cave.

Its rhinoceros-like size charged ferociously, a completely different kind of horror from that of a shadow.

Yu Hong stepped back, standing by the side of the door, watching the approaching monster as his legs trembled wildly.

A month ago, he was just an ordinary person, an office worker. A month later, he had to face such an unknown horrific monster!

Fear.

Intense fear.

Paralyzed him, almost rendering him motionless.

His right hand, gripping the door handle, shook violently, wanting to quickly close and lock the door.

But Yiyi and the other weren't there yet!

He could leave Dr. Xu, but not Xiao Jieba; she had saved him before, so

now he had to save her.

Bang!

Yu Hong forcefully slapped his own legs.

"Fear be damned!! Crap!"

"Stop!!"

"You damn well stand firm!!"

He roared inwardly, his eyes fixed on the approaching Xiao Jieba and the other.

Twenty meters.

Fifteen meters.

Ten meters.

Five meters!

One meter!!

Swoosh!

In an instant, Dr. Xu and Xiao Jieba rushed through the door, one after the other.

Just as they entered, Yu Hong slammed the door shut and locked it.

Bang!!!

Immediately, less than a second later, a thunderous sound struck the center of the door, causing the entire cave to tremble slightly.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!!

The black monster began to furiously pound on the strengthened wooden door.

It seemed angry, enraged that Yu Hong had taken its prey.

But no matter how much it struck, the door only trembled, showing no signs of damage or shaking.

"Huff, huff, huff... what, is this??" Xiao Jieba lay on the ground, turned her head back, and saw a door completely different from what she remembered.

Confusion appeared in her eyes.

She remembered that the door she and Yu Hong had dealt with previously shouldn't have been this one?

The door before her was much more upscale and sturdy.

"After you left, I refined this door again and reinforced the surroundings," Yu Hong, sitting down exhausted, noticed her confusion and explained.

"...." Xiao Jieba stared blankly at him, from the previous wooden door to the present perfected thick door, the difference was really...

"Let's not talk about this now, come help brace it!" Yu Hong stood up and rushed to the door to shoulder it from behind.

Dr. Xu and Xiao Jieba also hurriedly got up to help support it.

The banging sound still did not stop, but with their combined effort, the monster outside could no longer move the wooden door.

After about ten more hits and realizing the door wasn't moving,

soon, seeing no progress, the monster finally turned and left, quickly disappearing in the rain.